Control valve



arch 1, 1 D, FAwKgs 2,95,

CONTROL VALVE I Filed Jan. 19,, 1942 2 Sheets-Shet 1.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 19, 1946 CONTROL VALVE Donald G. Fawkes, Chicago, 111., assignor to Crane 00., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application January 19, 1942, Serial No. 427,245

2 Claims. (Cl. 121-465) This invention relates to a novel control valve. More particularly, it is adapted for use with remotely actuated devices and especially with such control valves as are adapted to control the flow of fluid to a pressure fluid motor of the type used to reversibly operate valves, dampers, bulkhead doors, and the like.

Before stating the specific objects of my invention a brief statement will first be made regarding some of the applications where my control valve is peculiarly adaptable, together with a brief statement regarding the background and the state of the art prior to my invention.

One situation where a hydraulic control system employing my control valve is particularly applicable is in connection with certain valves and bulkhead doors employed in a ship. In'modern naval craft, for example, the operation of such equipment has assumed such high degree of importance, especially in the combat vessels, that the failure of a single valve or a bulkhead door in the course of a naval engagement might seriously hamper the fighting effectiveness of the vessel. In the case of valves, it has consequently been found necessary and desirable to provide for the operation of certain critically important valves from a remote location 'in addition to being operable at the valve itself; this improves the accessibility of the valve to the operating system in the event that quick, prompt operation is necessary.

These critically important valves, as well as certain bulkhead doors which must be closed in the event of leakage into a compartment, are usually located at a considerable distance below the main control deck from which latter position it may be desirable to operate the valves or bulkhead doors in the event of an emergency. In the past, electrical systems have been employed for the remote operation of such valves, etc, but these systems have presented considerable practical difiiculties in use due to their (1) excessive bulk; (2) complex wiring systems; and (3) requirement of a live electrical system at the instant that it is desired to operate the apparatus. In connection with this last objectionable feature, inasmuch as certain valves, such as those employed to flood a powder room in case of fire or an explosion in the vicinity thereof, are primarily utilized only upon the occurrence of an emergency of this sort, there has always been the possibility that the very emergency which the valve was installed to combat might render the valve useless by destroying the electrical system. Accordingly, naval designers have come to realize that somewhat more dependence should be placed upon personnel than on electrical systems in the event of an emergency, and a completely hydraulic system for operating a valve, or the like, from a plurality of positions, has been developed, a form of which is shown in Fig. 1 illustrating how my invention would be specifically employed therein; basically, the controlling purpose has been to provide a valve operating system, or the like, wherein the valve may be operated by hand at points located both near and distant to the valve.

In order to operate a valve manually from a distant point within a ship, a fiuid piped connection between the operating deck and the valve has been deemed superior to a mechanical connection, as for example, to an extended stem. This conclusion has been reached because, in the first place, a pair of fluid-containing pipes or tubes would occupy less valuable space, and in the second place, by their flexible nature, they would be more likely to remain in an operative condition even if deformed from their original configuration by an explosion or the like, causing the buckling of supports.

A satisfactory fiuid-pressure-operated system of the type referred to has included, briefly, a hand-operated pump or pressure producing means, and preferably, but not necessarily, a fluid reservoir located at the remote operating deck. At the valve, and connected operatively to the stem thereof, there has been a fluid-operated motor adapted to be actuated by the remotely located pump so that when fluid from the pump is directed through the motor the valve stem will be moved either in the opening or the closing direction. Two more elements which heretofore have been considered necessary have been: (1) an auxiliary valve or cook to divert the pumped fluid through the motor in the proper direction to bring about the desired opening or closing movement; and (2) a separate declutching device of some sort to disconnect the fluid system while operation of the valve is being effected at the valve itself, thereby preventing the fiuid motor from acting as a pump and backing fluid into the pump and reservoir at the operating deck.

In a fluid-pressure-operating system. for a valve or the like, as above described, it has been my primary object to construct a control valve which would consolidate in one unit the functions of the last two elements recited in the preceding paragraph, namely those of the auxiliary valve and the declutch'ing device. My control valve is preferably installed in the fluid circuit between the pump and the motor, adjacent the pump, as hereinafter brought out in greater detail. The control valve may be suitably operated to cause fluid under pressure to be dis charged through the motor in one direction or the other without reversing the direction of the pump; furthermore, when the control valve is in the inoperative position which it automatical- 1y assumes, the two sides of the fiuid motor are so interconnected that fluid is readily bypassed from one side of the motor to the other through the control valve; the latter bypassing will ooour when the operating handwheel at the valve I is used, thereby causing the motor to act as a pump. By providing for the bypassing of fluid in this manner, it has been possible to eliminate altogether the declutching mechanism which previously has been considered necessary in fluid-operating systems of this nature.

Accordingly, a specific object of my invention has been to provide a control valve for hydraulically operated valves, bulkhead doors and the like, the control valve being manually operable to direct the flow in one predetermined direction or another through the motor, the control valve further having means associated with it whereby it will automatically assume a condition suitable for bypassing fluid directly from one portion of the motor to another.

In the accompanying drawings there are shown for purposes of illustration, and not by way of limitation, one of many forms which the inven tion may assume in practice.

- Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the manner in which my invention may be incorporated in the actuating system of a valve.

Fig. 2 is a sectional viewof one form of my control valve such as illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 1. a

Fig. 3 is a similar sectional view of the control valve illustrating the arrangement of the internal parts when in position for operating the fluid motor in one direction to close the main or operated valve.

Fig. 4 is identical with Fig. 3, except that it illustrates the arrangement of internal parts when in position for operating the fluid motor in the opening direction.

Throughout the drawings like parts are designated by like reference characters.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to Fig. l, the pump l operates to supply fluid under pressure from the reservoir 2, through the control valve 3 to the fluid, pressure motor, or pressure actuated means 4. The latter operation causes the spur pinion 6 to rotate, thereby transmitting rotary motion successively through the gears l, 8 and 9 to the valve stem H of the main valve, not shown. Many other modifications obviously may be used; for instance, the pump I which is illustrated as a rotary type gear pump may be any other type, for example, a reciprocating pump; likewise, although the fluid motor 4 is shown as a rotary motor operating a rotatable valve stem through several gears, a substantial equivalent might readily take the form of a cylinder and piston, the latter being connected directly to a reciprocal valve stem, bulkhead door or the like.

Directin attention now to Fig. 2 which illustrates a specific form of control valve 3 constituting the essence of my invention, the casing or body l2 has formed therewithin a pair of cylindrical bores i 3 and I4 extending parallel to one another. It is not necessary however that the bores be aligned in the parallel manner shown nor is my invention confined to the use of a single pair of bores for, as it will subsequently appear, a considerable number of bores may be incorporated into a singe casing for selectively operating a plurality of fluid pressure motors from a single source of fluid pressure. Within the bores l3 and M a pair of axially movable piston members It and 11 respectively are mounted. The piston members It and H have exteriorl extending stems l8 and I9 terminating in removable caps or buttons 2| and 22. Hollow bushings 23 and 24 containing the packing chambers 28 and 21 are threadedly removable from the casing for ready accessibility to the internal parts. The bushings 23 and 24 have associated respectively therewith the usual packing glands 28, 29, and gland follower nut members 3l, 32. The enlarged collar portions 33 and 34 are provided on the stems adjacent the piston members to limit the outward travel of the pistons under the influence of the springs 36 and 3'! respectively, and the extensions 38 and 33 project axially from the other ends of the piston members to limit the inward movement thereof. An inlet conduit 4| communicates with inlet ports 42 and 43, which, in Fig. 2, are so positioned along the bores that they are completely closed off by the piston members when the latter are in the extreme outward position. An exhaust conduit 44 provides communication with the pump intake 48 and the reservoir 2 as shown in Fig. l; furthermore, the exhaust conduit 44 is in communication within the casing with exhaust ports 41 and 48 both of which are positioned substantially at the extreme inward end of the bores in Fig. 2. Each bore has a pair of longitudinally spaced outlet ports interconnected with one another; each pair of outlet ports is spaced apart approximately the axial length of the piston. The

ports are designated 49, 5i and 52, 53 respectively; the pair 43, 54 communicates with an outlet conduit 54 which is connected to one end of the motor and the pair 52, 53 is in communication with an outlet conduit 56 which is connected to the opposite end of the motor.

To simplify the following description it will be assumed that when the pump 1 is being operated to close the valve, fluid will flow to the left in conduit 54 and to the right in conduit 56, conversely,

when the pump is being operated to open the valve, the flow will be reversed in each conduit.

In the preferred installation, the pump I, the reservoir 2, and the control valve 3 will be located at a control station at some distance from the main valve which it is adapted to operate, whereas the motor 5 and the gearing B, I, 8, and 9 will be located at the main valve itself. Thus if it is desired to rotate the valve stem II to the closed position from the remote station, the operator first depresses the close button 22, as shown in Fig. 3, thus moving the piston member I! inward against the action of the spring 31 to the end of its travel, Then, second, the operator rotates the handle 5? of the pump I causing the actuating fluid to be drawn through the intake conduit 46 and discharged into the conduit 4|,

whence it passes successively through the inlet port 43, the bore I4, the outlet port 52 and into the conduit 56 leading to the motor 4. After passing through the motor the fluid enters the conduit 54 and returns to the casing l2, passing successively through the outlet port 5!, the bore I3, the exhaust port 41 and thence to the pump for recirculation, by way of the exhaust conduit 44 and the intake 46.

After the hand pump has been started, as above described, it is no longer necessary for the operator to maintain the button 22 depressed manually, for the discharge pressure from the pump will be communicated directly to the bore chamber 58 above the piston and will thereby maintain the piston H in its innermost position as shown in Fig. 3, until the pump is stopped. When the pump is stopped, the discharge pressure will fall, allowing the spring 3'! to urge the piston outward to the position shown in Fig. 2, namely, the bypass position. In the latter position, the outlet conduits 54 and 56 leading to the motor are directly interconnected within the casing, the actuating fluid being free to flow in the direction indicated by the arrows, or vice versa. Thus, in this bypass position, the control valve 3 permits the valve stem H to be rotated in either operating direction by means of the handwheel 59. This, of course, will tend to operate the motor t as a pump, causing fluid to flow through the conduit 5 to the conduit 56, or vice versa. As pointed out above, this tendency to pump fluid through the conduit has previously necessited a declutching mechanism at the Valve to maintain the fluid motor 4 disconnected when not in use, for in previous fluid systems of this kind the rotation of the motor 4 by means of the handwheel 59 resulted in backflow of fluid through the entire system including the reservoir 2 and in some cases also including the pump I, the resulting pressure drop giving rise to sufficient resistance in turning the handwheel 59 to require the use of a declutching mechanism. As far as I am advised the idea has not occurred to anyone previously that the control valve could be constructed so as to include an automatic bypass of the nature which I have shown and which would be continuously in position for bypassing fluid directly from one outlet conduit to another in case the handwheel is utilized. To assure that the system will remain full of fluid at all times and not be emptied by gravity flow to the reservoir 2, a spring-loaded check valve (not shown) may be installed in the exhaust conduit 44, although it is emphasized that such an element would be neither necessary nor desirable to the successful use of my invention in all cases.

In order to operate the valve stem H in the opening direction, the operator simply depresses the open button 2 l, in the same manner as the button 22 was depressed when it was desired to close the valve, followed by rotating the pump handle 51. This operation allows the fluid to flow successively from the inlet conduit M, through the inlet port 32, the outer end portion of the bore IS, the outlet port 49, the outlet conduit 5@, the motor 4, the outlet conduit 55, the outlet port 53, the inner end portion of the bore Hi, the exhaust portAB, and the exhaust conduit 44, whence it returns to the reservoir or to the pump for recirculation. As described in connection with the closing operation, it is not necessary for the operator to maintain the button 2| depressed manually, for the discharge pressure from the pump is communicated directly into the bore chamber 6!,

thereby maintaining the piston l6 at its extreme inward position against the compression of the spring 36.

connection with any fluid circuit of the type disclosed in which it is desired to hydraulically operate a valve, bulkhead door, damper or similar device from a plurality of control points. It should likewise be obvious that the invention is equally applicable whether the pump l and the wheel 59 are manually operated, as shown, or operated by power means, as for instance, by electric or pneumatic motors, or the like.

Another aspect of the invention which it is desired to point out is that more than two piston members may be utilized in the same housing whereby a plurality of pressure actuated devices may be selectively operated from a, single source of fluid pressureyall pressure actuated device's utilizing in common the inlet conduit i! and the exhaust conduit 44.

' While there is in this application specifically illustrated and described one form which the invention may assume in practice, it should be apparent that the showing provided is merely for the purpose of illustration and that the invention may be further modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a control device, the combination including a housing and a pair of valves comprising a.

pair of substantially formed cylindrical chambers extending parallel to each other, a pair of axially movable piston member mounted in the said cylindrical chambers, each of the said piston members having independent actuating means extending exteriorly of the said housing, means on the said piston members for limiting the axial movement of the said piston members in both inward and outward directions relative to the said housing, the housing having inlet conduit mean communicating with a pair of inlet ports therewithin, the latter ports being positioned transversely relative to the cylindrical chamber and spaced apart so that when the piston members are moved outwardly the pair of inlet ports is shut off by the said piston members, the said housing also having a pair of outlets, each of said piston member being resiliently mounted whereby under the normal load exerted by the resilient means for the piston members the said outlets are directly interconnected within the said housing, the flow through the housing thereby being reversible, the said housing having an exhaust conduit means, the latter being in communication within the housing with a pair of exhaust ports positioned substantially at the in- 

